


Gold: A Don't Story

by tridecaphilia



Series: The Don't Stories [3]
Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Domestic, Fights, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 19:42:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3862354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tridecaphilia/pseuds/tridecaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They might be together again, but Thomas and Minho still have a lot to work out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gold: A Don't Story

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this one written already, so this is another buffer ficlet. I'll probably be into the prompts next week.

Minho frowned as he picked up the envelope on the table and opened it. The frown only deepened when he saw what was inside.

“Thomas!” he yelled. “The hell is this?”

The youngest member of their triad was in the bathroom drying his hair after a post-work shower. He emerged with the towel still in his hands. “The hell is what?” he asked, then saw the paper in Minho’s hand. “It’s a check,” he said slowly. “For my share of the rent.”

“I didn’t ask you to pay rent,” Minho said, holding out the check to him. “Take it back.”

“No.”

Minho frowned and put it on the table, pushing it toward Thomas. “I don’t want it.”

“Well neither do I.” Thomas folded his arms over his chest, staring Minho down.

“I never made you pay rent before,” Minho said, mimicking his posture. “I never made Newt pay rent.”

“Newt didn’t have a job,” he shot back. “And for that matter I was a minimum-wage clerk. Now I have a salary and I can pay my fair share.”

“That’s great and all, but I’m not asking you to.”

Thomas bristled. “I’m not gonna be a kept man, all right? Newt broke up with us because he didn’t want to be treated like that, well I don’t either.”

“Hey don’t bring Newt into this, he’s not here--”

“Damn right I’m not.”

Both men stopped talking and turned. Newt was standing there, backpack over his shoulder and cell phone in hand.

Thomas’s mouth went dry. “You have your bag,” he said dumbly. “Why do you have your bag?”

Newt shifted it higher on his shoulder. “I’m going to stay with Alby for the night,” he announced. “You two--” he pointed at each of them with the phone “--figure _this_ out before I get back.”

Minho found his voice first. “You don’t think that’s a little passive-aggressive? Just walking out when things don’t go your way?”

Newt shrugged. “You two played tug-of-war with me for two years,” he said evenly. “I think I’ve earned a little passive-aggression.”

Neither of them argued. Newt kissed each of them on the cheek as a goodbye and walked out.

Thomas sighed, flopping into a chair. Minho dropped into the one across from him.

“Well,” he said after a while. “That was a hell of an ultimatum.”

Minho glared at him. “Why couldn’t you just take the money back, huh?”

“Why couldn’t you just take the money?” Thomas retorted.

Minho groaned and dragged his hands over his face. “We’re doing it again,” he said helplessly. “This is why he left.”

“Yeah.” Thomas looked back at the table and the check on it. “Look,” he said. “I’m not taking the money back.”

“I’m not depositing the check,” Minho said. “So it doesn’t matter.”

“Why the hell not?” His voice was rising. He forced it back down. “I’m not going to be a kept man, Min. We’re equals here.”

“Yeah, but I can afford this. You have student loans. Just pay those off first, man.”

He honestly wanted to bang his head on the desk. “You think I’m stupid? If I pay off the loans you’ll come up with something else for me to do ‘before’ you let me pay anything. No. Not doing that.”

“I don’t make Newt pay anything--” Minho began again.

“Newt doesn’t want to pay anything,” Thomas said. “Or at least he hasn’t brought it up. I have and I do.”

Minho sighed. “I don’t want you paying rent,” he said stubbornly. “The lease is in my name, I can pay it myself.”

“Fine. Then think of something else. I’m not letting you carry me.”

“Why _not?_ ”

“Because you don’t have to,” Thomas said. “And because--” His mouth got dry but he pushed on. If they didn’t work this out there wouldn’t be a _them_ to work it out at all, and Minho had already proven he didn’t care about anything else. “--Because I don’t want to get too used to it,” he finished. “To you taking care of me. We already broke up once.”

Silence descended on them. Minho looked down, and it clicked for Thomas.

“That’s why you don’t want me to pay,” he said. “Because if we break up and I leave then it goes back to just being you paying for everything.”

Minho didn’t say anything, but that was answer enough.

“Okay.” He shook his head, spreading his hands on the table. “Okay, look. We have to trust each other here. We have to trust that we’re not going to just--fall apart again.”

“If we do, then you don’t need to pay,” Minho pointed out.

“If we do, then you don’t need me to _not_ pay,” Thomas said. “So. Fine. Rent’s your job, the lease is in your name, whatever. So figure something else out because you’re not paying for everything around here.”

Minho shrugged. “You want to handle the cable bill?” he suggested. “Groceries?”

“Seriously?” Thomas glared at him. “You really think I want my money to be reserved for luxuries? I got on fine without cable for two years.”

“And groceries?” Minho asked.

“I’m not paying groceries,” he said. “For one, that’s the smallest bill of all of them. I’m paying for something significant.”

“Like what?” Minho asked. “The car’s in my name, you’re not paying for that--”

“I don’t even drive it,” Thomas said, waving off the suggestion. “A car’s another thing I got on without just fine. No. How much do utilities cost you?”

Minho shrugged. “I can handle utilities,” he said, eyes guarded. “The heat’s on level billing, we don’t run the A/C that much--”

“How much?” Thomas repeated.

Another shrug, but Minho muttered a number.

“I’ll take care of that, then.” Thomas actually felt relieved. It could be this easy.

Minho shook his head. “I got it.” His mouth was set in a stubborn line.

Thomas could have kicked him. “Minho.” He stood up and circled the table until he was in front of his boyfriend. “You have to trust me.” He grabbed Minho’s hands and pulled until the bigger man relented and got to his feet. Thomas wrapped his arms around his waist. “I love you,” he said seriously. “I never stopped loving you. And as long as we both want this to work, it will.”

“We wanted it to work before,” Minho said, but his arms hesitantly slid around Thomas.

“No, we wanted to hide before. Now, we want this to work. Even if we really did hate each other we both love Newt too much to leave. So you have to trust me. I’m not walking out again.”

Minho looked wary. Thomas didn’t blame him. But he moved his hands to cup Minho’s face and dragged him into a kiss.

“You’re afraid,” he said, “of letting me pay for things that matter. You’re scared I’m going to leave. But Minho, right now the only reason I’d leave is you treating me like a child. Let me handle the utilities, all right?”

Minho looked away. “I never made Newt handle any of it,” he said stubbornly.

“Newt didn’t _want_ to. And you’re just saying no to say no right now.”

A sigh, and Minho dropped his head to rest on Thomas’s shoulder. “Okay.”

Thomas grinned. “Okay? Was that an actual acquiescence I heard?”

Minho laughed. “Look at you, breaking out the big words.”

“A liberal arts education has to be good for something,” Thomas said teasingly. “So do we have a deal or not?”

Minho sighed but straightened, nodding. “Yeah. Deal. I pay rent, you pay utilities.”

“And we split the rest,” Thomas said. “Fifty-fifty. Or thirty-thirty-thirty if Newt wants in.”

Another sigh. “You don’t ask much, do you?”

He sounded teasing, but Thomas saw the pain in his eyes. He kissed him lightly. “I know,” he said. “You can carry all three of us by yourself. But Minho, you don’t _have_ to. You just have to trust me.”

Minho examined him for a long minute. Whatever he saw, apparently he liked it, because without another word he leaned in for a proper kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave more prompts for this verse in the comments.


End file.
